


Perseids

by QuailiTea



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, meteor shower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 10:52:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15435504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuailiTea/pseuds/QuailiTea
Summary: For this month's Ranier Maria Rilke challenge - the poem Falling StarsDo you remember still the falling starsthat like swift horses through the heavens racedand suddenly leaped across the hurdlesof our wishes--do you recall? And wedid make so many! For there were countless numbersof stars: each time we looked above we wereastounded by the swiftness of their daring play,while in our hearts we felt safe and securewatching these brilliant bodies disintegrate,knowing somehow we had survived their fall.





	Perseids

The shooting star reminded her. That night she and Janey had spent, huddled on the roof under three blankets and a petticoat lifted from a tip, first only hiding from their father’s beery rage, then suddenly, watching the sky pour down shooting stars. They had wished and laughed and wished again, first with the standard wishes: an orange, a trip to the shore, a first kiss, an adventure. Then, as the night had grown later and colder, the wishes had become exuberant, outrageous. Twelve, no, eighteen! pairs of silk stockings. A ride on a camel. The ability to fly. Shoes for every day of the week. To be Cleopatra. Eventually, Janey had run out of wishes altogether and had lapsed into marveling silence. Phryne had drawn her sister close, feeling the wires of her limbs soften as she fell asleep, hearing the soft whuffle of Janey’s stolen-apple-scented breath slow to peace. Janey didn’t settle every night, despite Phryne’s best efforts. But she slept deeply then, and Phryne spent wish after wish of her own, promising the stars everything, if only they could escape that miserable garret.

After, Phryne took the double share of wishes. She made them all come true.


End file.
